SCLS Live Steam Railroading Glossary

Laborer who works in a caisson tunneling under a river, boring either a railroad tunnel, subway, or highway tunnel

SAP

Same as brake club; also called the staff of ignorance. To set hand brakes is to sap up some binders

SAW BY

Slow complicated operation whereby one train passes another on a single-track railroad when the other is on a siding too short to hold the entire train. Saw by is applied to any move through switches or through connecting switches that is necessitated by one train passing another

SAWBONES

Company doctor

SCAB

Nonunion workman; also car not equipped with automatic air system. (See nonair)

SCIZZOR-BILL

Uncomplimentary term referring to yard or road brakemen and students in train service

SCOOP

Fireman's shovel. Also the step on front and rear ends of switch engines

SCOOT

Shuttle train

SCRAP PILE

Worn-out locomotive that is still in service

SEASHORE

Sand used in sand dome. Also applied to coal that is mixed with sand

SEAT HOG

Passenger who monopolizes more than one seat in a car or station waiting room while others are standing. Such pests usually spread luggage, packages, or lunch over adjacent seats

SECRET WORKS

Automatic air-brake application. Also the draft timbers and drawbar of a car, when extracted by force. If only the drawbar is pulled out, you say, "We got a lung," but if the draft timbers comewith it, you say, "We got the whole damn secret works"

SENIORITY GRABBER

Railroad employee who is glad when someone above him dies, gets killed, is fired, or resigns, so he can move up the seniority list to a better job

SEPARATION

The sorting of mail sacks and parcels within the storage car before transferring to trucks

SERVICE APPLICATION

Gradual speed reduction, as contrasted with emergency stop caused by wiping the clock

SETTING UP

Loading a baggage car with mail and parcels according to a prearranged plan to facilitate rapid unloading at various stations along the line

SETUP

Four to six hand trucks placed in formation beside the door of a storage car to facilitate the separation of the mail and parcels being unloaded. Each truck is loaded with matter to be transferred to other trains or to the R.P.O. (Railway Post Office) terminal office

Temporary track, usually built around a flooded area, a wreck, or other obstacle; sometimes built merely to facilitate a rerailing

SHORT FLAGGING

Flagman not far enough from his train to protect it. (See drawbar flagging)

SHORT LOADS

Cars consigned to points between division points and set out on sidings at their destinations. Also called shorts

SHORT-TIME CREW

Crew working overtime but not yet affected by the sixteen-hour law. (See dogcatchers)

SHUFFLE THE DECK

Switch cars onto house tracks at every station you pass on your run

SHUNTING BOILER

Switch engine

SIDE-DOOR PULLMAN

Boxcar used by hobos in stealing rides

SKATE

Shoe placed on rail in hump yard to stop cars with defective brakes

SKIN YOUR EYE

Engineer's warning to man on left side of cab when approaching curve

SKIPPER

Conductor

SKYROCKETS

Red-hot cinders from smokestack

SLAVE DRIVER

Yardmaster. Also any rawhider

SLING MORSE

Work as telegraph operator

SLIPS, CAR OR TRAIN OF

Car or train of bananas

SLOW BOARD

See board

SLUG

Heavy fire in locomotive firebox

SLUGS

A shipment of magazines, catalogues, or automobile-license plates in small mail sacks weighing approximately 100 pounds each

SMART ALECK

Passenger conductor

SMOKE or SMOKE AGENT

Locomotive fireman. Smoker is engine or firebox. Smoking 'em or running on smoke orders is a dangerous method, now obsolete, of running a train from one station or siding to another without orders from the dispatcher. You moved cautiously, continually watching for the smoke of any train that might be approaching you on the same track

SNAKE

Switchman, so named from the large serpentine letter S on membership pins of the Switchman's Union of North America. Sometimes called reptile or serpent

SNAKEHEAD

A rail that comes loose from the ties and pierces the floor of a car; a fairly common accident with the strap-iron rails of a century ago

SNAP

Push or pull with another engine. Snapper is the engine that does the pulling

SNIPE

Track laborer. His boss is a king snipe

SNOOZER

Pullman sleeping car

SNUFF DIPPERS

Coal-burning engines that burn lignite (which, on the Missouri Pacific at least, is the same color as snuff)

SOAK

Saturated locomotive

SODA JERKER

Locomotive fireman

SOFT BELLIES

Wooden frame cars

SOFT PLUG

Fusible plug in crown sheet of locomotive that is supposed to drop when water gets below top of sheet

SOFT-DIAMOND SPECIAL

Coal train

SOLID CAR

A completely filled storage car containing sixty feet of mail and parcels, equal to a 100 per cent load

SOLID TRACK

Track full of cars

SPAR

Pole used to shove cars into the clear when switching. (See stake)

SPEED GAUGER

Locomotive engineer

SPEEDER

Same as pop car

SPEEDY

Callboy

SPIKE A TORCH

Throw a fusee

SPOT

To place a car in a designated position. Also sleep, rest, or lunch period on company time. On the spot means an opportunity for railroad men to "chew the rag" or swap experiences. Unlike the same underworld term, on the spot has no sinister implication in railroad slang

SPOTBOARD

Guide used by section men in surfacing or ballasting track in order to obtain an even bed.

SPOTTER

Spy, company man assigned to snoop around and check on employees

SQUEEZERS

Car-retarding system used in some railroad yards

SQUIRRELING

Climbing a car

STACK O' RUST

A locomotive that has seen better days

STAKE

Pole used in dangerous and now rare method of switching. A cut of cars was shoved by a stake attached to the car immediately in front of the engine. This method was supposed to be superior to the ordinary method of "batting them out" because there was less wear and tear on drawbars and less damage to freight; but the human casualties that resulted gave more than one yard the nickname "slaughterhouse." Another meaning of stake is the money a boomer saved on a job so he could resign and continue eating regularly while looking for another job

STAKE DRIVER

Any engineering-department man

STALL

Space inside a mail or baggage car containing mail or parcels consigned to a certain destination and separated from other shipments by removable steel posts

STARGAZER

Brakeman who fails to see signals

STARVATION DIET

See board

STEM

Track or right-of-way

STEM-WINDER

Climax type of geared locomotive. Also applied to trolley car without brakes because of the motion of its brake handle

STICK

Staff used on certain stretches of track to control the block. It is carried by engine crews from one station to another. Now rare

STIFF BUGGY

Specially designed four-wheel truck used for transferring coffins and rough boxes inside a station

STINGER

Brakeman. Derived from initial B(ee) of Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, or perhaps from some brakemen's habit of arousing hobos by applying a brake club to the soles of their shoes

STINK BUGGY

Bus

STINKER

Hotbox

STIRRUP

First step of freight car, under the lowest grab iron

STOCK PEN

Yard office

STOCKHOLDER

Any employee who is always looking out for the company's interests

STOPPER PULLER

Member of the crew that follows the engine in switching

STORAGE CAR

Baggage car or (in rush periods) Railway Express car containing a mixed shipment of parcels and mail sacks consigned to a certain terminal for sorting and rerouting to various destinations via other trains

STRAW BOSS

Foreman of small gang or acting foreman

STRAW-HAT BOYS

Railroad men who work only in pleasant weather

STRAWBERRY PATCH

Rear end of caboose by night; also railroad yard studded with red lights